Purpose – This empirical paper aims to assess the multi-dimensional nature of trust in service relationships. Although trust is deemed to be important for managing service relationships there is a dearth of research looking at its multidimensional nature outside of Western markets. Design/methodology/approach – The study is undertaken in three countries: UK, Hong Kong and India (September to November 2010). The sample consists of more than 300 sample members from across the three countries with an approximately even split between each. Findings – The findings show that cognitive trust does not significantly impact affective trust, but the other relationships in the model are supported. Customer ' s disposition to trust impacts both cognitive and overall trust. Research limitations/implications – The research provides direction for services marketing scholars and practitioners, but there are limitations because not all types of financial institutions are evaluated. Practical implications – The practical implications of this work are profound given that transnational operations of most retail banks. Understanding trust dimensions aids relationship managers to devise differentiated strategies to build/re-build and maintain long-term trust relationships with customers. Originality/value – This work extends the understanding of relationships, but by rooting the work in retail banking it provides new insights for academics and practitioners. For service marketing scholars, this study calls into question some of the multi-dimensional nature of trust and for practitioners it can help aid strategy development.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and tests a service excellence model, thus providing a detailed understanding of the key antecedents of service excellence, from a customer ' s perspective. The model presented in this paper is rooted in cross-disciplinary literature and tested amongst customers of UK retail banking services. Design/methodology/approach – Following a systematic approach to scale development, the paper draws on survey data from 260 consumers of retail banking products, with the data collected on national basis in the UK. Findings – The theoretical framework was evaluated using a structural approach. Of the hypothesised antecedents, innovation has the greatest impact on service excellence while reputation the least, as far as customers are concerned. Research limitations/implications – The research was limited to one research domain, i.e. UK retail banking, and thus it is reasonable to hypothesise that other aspects of service excellence will be more or less relevant for other types of financial services or in other geographic regions. Practical implications – Given the challenges faced by the retail banking sector, there are implications for practitioners because the authors identified the key antecedents of service excellence. The antecedents can be used by practitioners to help demonstrate excellence on their part and they could differentiate what are homogenous services at a time when the retail banks are going through a period of recovery following the crisis within the sector. Originality/value – This work complements the understanding of service excellence and provides insight for scholars and practitioners by modelling services for a specific service sector.

This study examined the Twenty20 cricket competition launched in England and Wales in 2003. The findings identified that the competition has many of the characteristics which current diffusion models believe to be critical success factors. However, most research focused on American and Australian sports, and two key contextual factors are excluded: both timing and weather have been critical factors in the competition's success.

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Research question: Professional sports clubs (PSCs) may diversify by marketing a range of products that extend beyond sport. Using brand architecture as a framework, the research aims to examine: the brand names they adopt, markets they serve and the hierarchical relationship between the leagues and PSCs in the branding of the product ranges of both organizations. Research methods:Set within the context of the English Football League (EFL), club websites were reviewed to examine brand names that are used when marketing activities unrelated to sport. Semistructured interviews were conducted with the commercial staff of 21 PSCs relating to their branding strategy. Results and findings:Leagues and PSCs may market a number of brands in addition to their core products of sporting competitions and teams. EFL clubs have developed brands independently of the league, primarily by branding their stadiums as a multi-purpose venue to stage events not related to matches. Within their venues they have also developed a category we term 'stadium sub-brands'. These include business clubs, comedy clubs and restaurants. Some of these services are co-branded with partner organizations. Implications:2 Devising a typology of the brand architecture of EFL clubs illustrates how sports organizations can diversify into markets other than football and add to their product portfolio by making use of their resources, in particular their stadium.